The invention relates to a labeling station of a labeling machine, especially for bottles, having one or more gluing segments which are mounted on a driven, revolving support, and whose axes of rotation are each situated on the support at a point between the pickup surface and the center of curvature of their curved pickup surface (the latter being especially cylindrically curved with a radius smaller than the distance between the support axis and the gripper cylinder), and revolve on a circular path concentric with the support axis, the support, the gripper cylinder and the gluing segments being coupled to one another through a cam drive such that they have the same sense of rotation and the gluing segments perform a rotatory movement in the opposite direction which is accelerated or retarded such that their pickup surfaces roll against the glue roller, the labels and the gripper cylinder, the labeling station being designed for optional operation with one or more gluing segments and the cam drive being replaceable such that the transmission ratio of the drive from the support to the gripper cylinder is reciprocal to the number of gluing segments installed on the support and the number of divisions of the gripper cylinder.
Such a labeling station is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,207. The advantage of such a labeling station is that an optimum adaptation to the required labeling conditions is possible. If only a small output is required, the support is provided with only a single gluing segment which serves labels to all spaces on the multiple divisions of the gripper cylinder. This means that, for low outputs, only one gluing segment has to be kept available on one and the same support for each of a variety of label sizes. If a higher output is required, the support is adapted to this new operating situation by the simple installation of additional gluing segments and the replacement of the corresponding gears and cams. Before changing over from one label length to another label length, it is necessary only to replace the gluing segment and change the gearing. The serving of all spaces on the gripper cylinder is possible because the gluing segment supports and the gripper cylinder rotate in the same sense, but the gluing segment rotates in the opposite sense.